Header Image: Tourists gathering around one of the famous ponds at Oshino Hakkai
The Imagining the Global dyad “local/global” was very pertinent during my research days on the north side of Mt. Fuji. There I was able to visit some very historic areas and to observe and work with the Fujisan Club, a non-profit organization that leads trash cleanups, as well as other types of conservation efforts, on and around Mt. Fuji. Throughout the three days I was in Fujiyoshida, Oshino, and Kawaguchiko, I was able to see how the inscription of Mt. Fuji as a World Heritage site has affected the management of those areas.
I had the opportunity to visit Oshino Hakkai, a set of eight ponds between Lake Kawaguchiko and Lake Yamanakako. These ponds are fed by natural springs from Mt. Fuji, as a result of snowmelt that seeps into the mountain. The average temperature of the ponds ranges from 12-14 degrees Celsius all year long. Oshino Hakkai has long been used as a place for purification ceremonies of Fuji Pilgrims before their ascent up Mt. Fuji. Its spiritual significance stemmed from the beauty of the landscape, with its fine view of Mt. Fuji, as well as from the high quality of the water in the ponds, which were fed by the natural springs from Mt. Fuji (http://www.japantimeline.jp/yamanashi/minamitsuru_gun/oshino_hakkai_springs/). The combination of Oshino Hakkai’s beauty and its historical significance made it a national treasure of Japan, as well as a significant tourist attraction. Tourism in Oshino Hakkai has many local implications that are being amplified as its global significance increases. Shops in Oshino Hakkai rely on business from tourists coming through and exploring the area. However, the number of tourists has increased since Mt. Fuji’s inscription as a World Heritage site in 2013. Oshino Hakkai was a part of the inscription as a World Heritage Site under the UNESCO criterion that it was an “object of worship” and a “source of artistic inspiration.” Normally, places that rely on tourism would want more visitors to come; however this already popular location could not realistically handle the number of tourists it got after the inscription. People in the Oshino Hakkai area were actually unhappy about Mt. Fuji’s inscription as a World Heritage Site, due to this problem of increased tourism.
The surge of tourism related to World Heritage Site inscription influenced how the people in Oshino Hakkai managed this area. One of the first things that indicated a change of the old ways of management was the parking situation. When we visited the site, we found a parking spot in a seemingly random location, but after we left the car, a man came up to us saying that we had to pay to park. Aoki Naoko, director of the Fujisan Club, mentioned to me that she never had to pay before. The endless number of tour buses that flowed through the area also resulted in creating parking lots specially made for tour buses. Implementation of the pay-to-park strategy and the increase in tour buses were ways to help manage the growing number of tourists that now visit this area.
I also had the opportunity to work with the Fujisan Club during my free days. One of the activities that I participated in was an art project event that the Fujisan Club hosted in a visitor center at Lake Kawaguchiko. For the art project, we used pastels to draw pictures of Mt. Fuji. A local artist came and helped teach people how to use the pastels to draw “our views of Mt. Fuji.” She used pre-made pastel drawings as examples for anyone who would walk by to help guide them. On the back of these drawings were descriptions of techniques on how to do a certain type of drawing of Fuji. An interesting development arose during my time at the event – the artist came up to me and asked me if I could help her write instructions in English. She told me that she wanted this event not only to influence the views of the Japanese but also those of foreigners visiting the area. This is an example of a local force trying to influence the global view of Mt. Fuji.
At the visitor center at Lake Kawaguchiko, I had the chance to interview Koike Matahiko, a mountain guide at Mt. Fuji. He talked about how the inscription of Mt. Fuji as a World Heritage site affected his mountain guide business. Interestingly, he mentioned that the inscription lowered the number of local Japanese climbers. One of the factors that Koike described was the local media coverage of the mountain. He said that the media always plays clips of Mt. Fuji being really crowded, thus discouraging people from wanting to climb the mountain. On the flip side, the inscription has increased the number of foreign climbers. This has forced mountain guides to learn different languages since people are now coming from all over the world to climb Mt. Fuji. He also mentioned that ever since Mt. Fuji was inscribed as a World Heritage site, mountain guides have been relearning and researching the history of Fuji so that they have more to tell climbers and can out-compete other mountain guides. Koike said that this is beneficial in that the inscription of Mt. Fuji as a UNESCO World Heritage site has brought a new sense of appreciation of Mt. Fuji.
All of these examples I observed in the Fujiyoshida area have shown that the inscription of Mt. Fuji as a World Heritage Site has influenced the local institutions around the mountain. They reveal how local and global forces in Japan influence each other. Mt. Fuji, Japan’s national symbol, has a huge local presence and has increasingly become a global presence in this world. Mt. Fuji attracts ever more tourists from around the world, altering the meanings and actions that surround the mountain.
Sources:
http://www.japantimeline.jp/yamanashi/minamitsuru_gun/oshino_hakkai_springs/